Ore furnace



F. M. SIMONDS ORE FURNACE Filed Feb. 19. 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 awventoz Z9 6mm, J

Patented July 2 6, 1927.

UNIT ED STATES 1,637,163 PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS M. SIMONDS, OF NEW YORK, Y., ASSIGNOR F ONE-HALF TO A. FILLMORE HYDE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ORE FURNACE.

Application filed February 19, 1925.

The present invention relates to a method of treating ores of all kinds and to form of furnace for carrying out that method. This furnace and the method of its operation affords a high degree of flexibility and adaptiveness, making it possible to subject a given ore to a continuous tal treatment involving a great va iety 0 changes in suc cessive partial treatments, and all within the same furnace and perf control available for each partial pro. s: separately.

The pmcess involves the novel plan of causing the active to pass thrcr i :a thin sheet of the broken ore. and more 0 pccially during forward movement of the sheet through the furnace.

This invention is particuliwh. well suited to the treatment of ores in accordance with the process described in my pending U. S. patent application Serial No. 5159, filed January 27th, 1925, although the invention is by no means confined to carrying out said process of treatment.

A preferred form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure l is a central vertical section of the furnace on the plane ll in Figure 3, Figure 2 is a similar section on the plane 22 in Figure 3, Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional View of the furnace, and. Figure 4 is a partial vertical section of one of the furnace walls, shown on a larger scale.

The furnace as herein shown in circular in cross section and the descending ore mass is annular in cross sectirm. "his preferred form is not essential, as a furnace and ore mass of polygonal cross section is within the invention.

The mass of crushed ore charged upon a cone 10, and descends in the form :of a hollow cylindrical sheet or shell 11, say two or three inches thick .(these dimensions not being essential) which increases gradually in thickness toward the bottom as shown v in Figure 2, to facilitate the movement of the ore. The material is finally received in ltl a hopper 12, whence it may be removed .by-

any appropriate means, as for instance, the screw conveyer 13.

The descending one is confined between in terior and exterior cylindrical walls 14 and 15, the nature of which is hereinafter described in connection with Figure 4. The interior wall forms the periphery of a long vertical cylinder which is made up of super- Serial No. 16,164.

posed sections or cylindrical distribution cham-lxus. These are separated by horizon tal walls or floors 16, and as shown in the drawing, there are ei ht of these distribution chambers. Any desired and convenient number of such chambers may be used.

The walls and floors of these chan'ibers are made of tire clay, sheet steel, or other ap propriate material, and a firm vertical support is allorde-d for the entire interior structure by hollow columns formed from sections 17 in each chamber. Each sectional column in each chamber stands exactly over a similar colluim in the clmm-ber beneath it. The entire section of the furnace can thus be built up of separate removable units of suitable dimensions for the particular purpose desired, which can replaced separately whenever found expedient.

The function of each of these chambers is to distribute laterally line streams of more or less active or if necessary inert) gases of varioi-is kinds to the descending sheet of ore mass through appropriate perforations. These heated gases are supplied preferably on opposite sides from inlet passages 18 registering with enthance openings 19 in the respective chambers. As shown in Figure 3, the inlet passages necessarily extend across and interrupt the sheet of ore mass on each side. These gases, whet-her reducing or oxidizing or of any chemical character, are supplied from any suitable source (not shown) through entrance 20.

In the particular form of apparatus herein shown, the gas (whether pie-heated or not) is mixed with air. and burned just as it is entering the openings 20. For this purpose a pipe 20 is used which may supply air or gas, the gas or air for burning coming in around said pipe 20. The flame is preferably projected against a fire clay pillar 20" to promote complete combustion, in a well known manner. ii

The gases may either be heated before admission to the distributing chambers or means may be provided for heating them within the furnace. In either case they pass outward from each chamber through perforations 21 (see Figure 4) and, after traversing the ore mass 11, they are discharged through perforations 22 in the outer cylindrical wall 15 (preferably of sheet metal) into the space 23, which surrounds the exterior wall 15.

The perforations 21 preferably extend downward and outward, say at an angle of 45 de rees to prevent any ore from falling intothe interior chambers. I prefer to supply means for filtering the outgoing gases as they enter the chamber 23, and for this purpose I may use a layer 24 of asbestos or the like, held in place by wire mesh 25. filtering means may be used.

The gas, after passing through the ore mass into the chamber 23 is led oii by branch pipes 26 into main outlet pipes 27, and the movement of this gas can be promoted and increased by any forcing means, as, for instance, suction fans applied to the pipes 27. In such cases it may be desirable that some of the gases used be segregated, either for the collection of by-products, as for instance sulphur, or to be returned to the furnace or used in another furnace to be burned or be otherwise utilized. This may, of course, be

done by supplying the necessary separate pipes for separate gas collection from one or more distributing chambers.

It will be seenthat the nature of the treatment of the ore body as it passes down by each distributing chamber in succession is determined by the nature and temperature of the ases supplied to it from the respective chambers. This can, of course, bescparately'controlled in a well known manner for each chamber separately, and the ore can thus be given any desired partial treatments on its way through the furnace. The duration of each partial treatment will depend upon the vertical height of each chamber.

As shown in the drawings the chambers are made each higher than the one above it, but it is to be understood that this is merely one example of the possible arrangement of differentvertical heights of the chambers. Any arrangement and relation suitable to the particular process intended to be carried out may be employed without departing from my invention.

In order to make certain, the gradual downward movement of the ore and to prevent packing, clogging or sticking either locally or otherwise, it may become necessary to impart a certain degree of agitation from without. As an example of a preferred means to this end I have shown the line of pillars 17 supported by'a common support 28, which is carried upon the vertically movable member of a hydraulicv ram, iiidicatedat 29. By causing this movable member tomake slow periodic up and down movements through a short distance, the entire vertical series of distributing chambers can be given a slow up and down, move- Other ment which will prevent all stoppage in the progress of the ore mass under treatment. As this is a very slow movement through a relatively short vertical path, it will not in terfere with the operation of the furnace in any way.

It will be seen that the operation of this form of furnace involves the treatment of the ore by arranging the mass in a relatively thin layer, and passing the gaseous reagents through this layer transversely. This insures a high degree of activity and cliiciency, as'it brings every particle of the ore into contact with the used and as every particle of gas within each distributing chamber is obliged to pass through the ore mass before it can leave the furnace.

Furthermore, by causing the layer of ore to move past a series of gas distrilmtors, this eiiicient reaction may be made available for almost any number of successive treatments of different kinds, each treatment being of a suitable duration and each being independcntly controllable.

It is to he understood that the process herein described may be carried out by other means than those herein described and claimed, without departing from my invention, and also that many changcs may be made in the apparatus described and claimed within the scope of the invention, which is not limited to the details herein shown and, described.

lVhat I claim is w 1. In an orc treating furnace. a number of separate distriliuting chamber.v arranged in a vertical series and having perforated peripheral walls, means for supplying dill ferent qualities of gas to the various dic tributing chambers, a second perforated ore confining wall surrounding the distrilniting chambers to "form a space in! descending ore, and means for conveying gases away from said second wall. i

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 incombination with means for imparting a vertical move ment to the distributing chambers to pro-.

mote certain movement of the ore.

distributing chambers are of dillicrent heights.

t. Apparatus as in claim I wherein sepa' rate spaces are provided behind the second perforated wall corresponding respectiveli to the various distrilmting chambers, to

gether with independent moans tor convev mg gases from each of smdseparate spaces In testimony wl'icrcof l have hereto ailix cl my signature. p

' F. M. SIMONDSQ ,3. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the 

